A microelectronic package comprises a microelectronic die electrically interconnected with a carrier substrate, and one or more other components, such as electrical interconnects, an integrated heat spreader, a heat sink, among others. An example of a microelectronic package is an integrated circuit microprocessor.
A microelectronic die comprises a plurality of interconnected microcircuits to perform electronic circuit functions. It generates heat as a result of the electrical activity of the microcircuits. In order to minimize the damaging effects of heat, passive and active thermal management devices are used. Such thermal management devices include heat sinks, heat spreaders, and fans, among many others. There are limitations in the use of each type of device, and in many cases, the thermal management device is specifically designed for a particular microelectronic die and package design and intended operations.
Non-uniform power distribution across the microelectronic die results in local areas of high heat flux (hot spots) that must be mitigated. The thermal management device must be able to maintain these hot spots at or below a specified temperature. This is very difficult when the local heat flux can be 10-times the microelectronic die average. Current devices are overwhelmed and limited in their ability to mitigate these local high heat flux sources. The thermal resistance between the heat sink and/or heat spreader is not low enough to adequately provide the necessary thermal mitigation in a reasonably sized system.
Currently, the localized heat generation is dissipated away from the microelectronic die once the heat has diffused to the surface. An Integrated Heat Spreader (IHS), heat sink, and/or a fan coupled to the surface do not have a major effect on spreading heat at the local-level within the microelectronic die. As a result, high temperature gradients and high-localized temperatures will continue to exist using the external methods of cooling.
Liquid pumps, embedded or external to the die, and microchannel cooling subsystems can address the problem of dissipating localized heat generation away from the microelectronic die, however vapor blockage can occur in the microchannels disrupting the cooling.